Montage, Decoupage, and Organic Coffee
by elviella
Summary: --AU-- "So. You have a crazy cast, a crazy crew, and a smug producer.", Lyserg said. "Yeah.", Pirika answered. "Alright... and what are you gonna call the film?". "I was thinking about "Tumbling Rubbles". "He's gonna hate it". "I know."


A/N: So, well... Yay for Shaman King I guess? :) This is the first chapter of what looks like it will become huge. I really hope you like it, and sorry for any mispellings and grammatical mistakes.

Also, thanks to Anna, my ever awesome English teacher, who gave me ideas, helped with the title and was my beta-reader.

Enjoy!

* * *

**_Chapter 1_**

**_A dynamic Usui comeback_**

She sighed. She looked at the dark, brownish liquid in her cup. Then, at the small round table; the chairs. The kitchen's wall, painted in a light orange colour, the notes and papers pinned up on the wall opposite her. The back of the girl and her long silver hair.

"Thanks, Jeanne."

The silver-haired girl turned from the kitchen counter she was cleaning and smiled.

"Don't mention it, Pirika"

Pirika took, at last, a sip of her tea, savouring its warmth and scent, and looked back at Jeanne.

It wasn't easy to tell her what she wanted. Yes, Jeanne would understand, because she always did. Still, Pirika didn't feel comfortable asking such a big favour. You could say it was a matter of honour. She felt awkward asking by herself, not having being invited first, no matter what Lyserg had said about Jeanne being understanding.

Jeanne smiled knowingly, and touched the other girl's hand.

"We'd love to have you stay with us."

Ha. She knew Lyserg wouldn't keep his mouth shut. He never did, when it came to helping her, even though she wanted to protest and do things her own way.

"Thanks, Jeanne…" She exhaled, quite relieved.

She was certain there had been a whole plan behind her back, to have her settled up in a home.

"Thanks. It means a lot to me."

Usui Pirika had graduated from University that summer, with a degree in Cinema. So, she had to do something about her life. Or rather, her survival. There was no way she'd return to Hokkaido. What could she do there? Of course, she could help restore the forests and protect the wildlife, but she still needed money to live. She was definitely willing to help her homeland, but she would do it in another way. Her own way, as she had being doing her whole life.

But before she could start making movies about the destruction of the environment (not only in Hokkaido, but in the whole of Japan, and why not the whole world, too? She had seen places that would certainly use a bit of help) she had to find a way of surviving herself. And to do this she needed a job and a place to stay…

So, a place to stay… There was no way she could live on her own. The prices required to rent were extremely high, and she wouldn't be able to cover all the needs of a home singlehandedly. This meant she needed to find a roommate or two. Too bad her only options already had roomies.

First off, her best friend happened to live with her brother. Well, her brother wasn't an option anyway. He might have been a lovable dork, but she had already lived with him for longer than was good for her sanity. She loved him, and to bits at that, but living in the same house – scratch that, apartment – with him would drive her mad. She was almost positive she'd end up cleaning and picking up unwashed garments Horo had absentmindedly dumped, apologizing to the neighbours for the noise and forgetting whatever the word "privacy" meant. It was a miracle how Lyserg could stand him. That English guy had the patience of a saint!

Therefore, she couldn't move in with them. If there was no other way, she'd bear to live with Horohoro, but their apartment didn't have room for three people at all.

This led her to her last option: Jeanne. She may not have been as a close a friend to her as Lyserg was, but she had known her for quite a long time and they could live comfortable in the same house. Jeanne already lived with some girl, but her rich family provided her with the convenience of a large house that had enough room for three. That was what led Pirika, after Lyserg's friendly advice, be in the French girl's kitchen that summer morning.

* * *

"'Morning, Lyserg!"

"What in the…? Bloody hell, not..!"

A sudden noise of something heavy falling echoed through the bookstore and a rather annoyed young man with green hair and eyes came out of the back of the shop, carrying a large pile of books, only to be surprised by the view of the visitor.

"Yoh? You haven't been here in ages! I thought it was Horohoro…again."

"Uh, heh." Yoh grinned. "Actually, that's the person I as looking for."

"Oh. Yeah, the work I suppose."

Lyserg took the book on top of the pile and inspected the title closely.

"He just left, he was going to Jeanne's to see Pirika. You must have heard about it, Pirika just moved in with the girls…", he said.

"Pirika's back? That's good. She'll slap some sense in her brother…as Anna would put it"

Lyserg chuckled, still looking at the book.

"So your brother got to publish something gain…"

"Hao? Oh, yeah. Heh, you know, the teenage prodigy's more mature works and stuff." Yoh smiled "He has offers to try for a screenplay now. If it happens, Anna will be _so _glad to have to work with him."

Lyserg chuckled once again, this time more absent-mindedly.

"So, how was England? Did you settle everything?"

The green-haired man seemed to blush faintly at that.

"Oh, you mean with the… Well yes, I kinda did…" Lyserg paused and looked back at Yoh a bit …threateningly? "I hope _nothing_ will slip out of _anyone_'s mouth to you-know-who about the you-know-what, right?"

"Definitely not, Lyserg. So, well, good luck with that. Oh, do tell Pirika that I'll see her around. And tell her that if she continues to have plans about a certain something, I'm still interested."

Lyserg looked at him a bit confused, but nodded.

"See you around, Yoh."

* * *

"Don't tell me there are serious people paying to watch _this_, onii-chan!"

Pirika looked at her brother, almost in disbelief, as the movie titles played on the TV screen.

Horohoro scratched the bridge of his nose, but grinned.

"What was wrong with it, Pirika? Even Lyserg liked it."

Pirika pressed the off button of the DVD player and sighed. Alright, she had watched far more ridiculous things. And the acting wasn't that bad, especially her brother's. It was just not what she had pictured her brother acting in. It was…far too mainstream, And a bit silly. But it was, as she had heard, one of the most popular films of the last six moths. Her brother's second leading role, too. By the looks of it, his fanbase was quite large, and his popularity was still rising. Her onii-chan was now a celebrity… Well, at least he wasn't in chick flicks. At least.

She knew her brother was talented. She always did, ever since they were wee little kids playing in their backyard in Hokkaido. He could always adapt in the 'roles' he had to play in their games (although he did have a preference for the strong, kickass, awesome, heroic AND funny good guy, rather the strong and intelligent but greedy villain), and he rather enjoyed pretending to be someone else, despite how fond (and full) of himself he seemed to be. He had often mentioned that he wanted to be an actor when they were young, but whenever the subject was brought up, they would only disagree and fight with their father. Their father didn't consider acting a decent occupation, having an old-fashioned opinion about "those conmen that are called actors", and firmly believing that his son had to do something decent and useful for a living. If this involved the restoration of the wildlife and the preserving of the Ainu traditions, it would be even better. Her brother's talks to her about acting became rants, but when the time came for him to go to college, he chose to study Law, in order to be able to do something about the environment, as he said. Pirika had only said "You can always do something about the environment whatever your occupation is. And you can always make documentaries about it". One year later, she went to college as well, to study Cinema. Weirdly enough, her father wasn't angry about that. She had told him she wanted to be a director, not an actress, and make documentaries about their homeland. She knew it was cowardly to have mentioned it to him this way like this and not standing up for her decision, but she really didn't want to see her father angry. It was truly a…a terrifying sight. And, after all, directing honestly was what she wanted to do.

She was happy to move to the city and to find out that her brother hadn't given up acting. She became even happier, when he abandoned Law School to pursue a career as an actor. Being talented and lucky as he was, he started to get a few minor parts in TV shows and advertisements, while at the same time he started to attend acting courses and working his butt off trying to make enough money to be able to survive and pay for the classes. While Pirika was off to America with a student exchange program, she received a call from her brother – he had just signed the contracts for his first LEADING role in a film. Since hat time, one and half years had passed and now he was the popular and oh-so-handsome [insert fangirls squealing] movie star Usui Horohoro.

Still. No matter how popular he was or how large his fanbase got, he was still her onii-chan. Her lovable dork of an older brother. With the annoying habits, the gluttony and the whole pack. She looked at him, wondering why he hadn't talked for the last few minutes, to find him engrossed in eating his pizza. Heh, that's how it was. She would space out for more than ten minutes, and he wouldn't understand a thing.

"Hey, onii-chan…" a pause "the film was fine."

He tried to grin, then swallowed and smiled.

"Of course it was! It had _me_ in it! It had to be _at least_ good!" he said.

This, of course, made him receive a well-earned smack on the back of his head by his sister, but just when she was midway in giving him another one, the doorbell rang and stopped her from doing so, making her run to get it.

"So!" Yoh said cheerfully, after all the welcome hugs, the random small talk, two slices of pizza, and half an hour of conversation. "Have you found someplace to work already?"

"No… Not really. I was going to start searching tomorrow and all… I didn't manage to find a job while I was still in college. Y' know, I was hoping to find a job as …I dunno… a director's fourth assistant? Or something."

Yoh and Horohoro stared at her blankly.

"Why didn't you tell us before?! Your brother works as a freaking actor and his best friend is a cameraman and you don't say you're trying to find a job in a film?! Really, I thought you were going to start cultivating organic vegetables or go help Lyserg in the bookstore or something!"

"Organic vegetables?" Yoh asked curiously.

"Yeah, she's an ecologist and all", Horo said between two bites of pizza. "Kind of a hippie and such."

Pirika glared at him, but just shrugged.

"You can say I'm a bit on the hippie side, I guess… But no, I won't work at the workshop and, in fact, Jeanne already has vegetables in her backyard, so I just help her with those. And yes, I studied directing, of course I want to work in a film!"

Yoh seemed to remember something at that.

"Didn't you want to start making that film of yours? Your idea since college started? 'Cause, you know, we'd all like to help you out with that!"

"What idea?"

"A…an idea I had… for a long time now." Pirika bit her lip and laughed a bit, looking abstracted. "But I guess I need experience before starting something out on my own…". Seeing both Yoh and Horohoro opening their mouths to speak, she quickly continued. "Okay, even if I don't really need more experience, I need money, right? I don't necessarily need a producer, but I need to gather money somehow myself. You know, equipment and all. Actors… Well, not really actors, I can get you, Horo, and Jeanne, and maybe even Lyserg!"

"Will you at least tell me what idea you're talking about, Pirika? Because really, if you want _me_ in it, I should at least know what I'm gonna be in, you know?"

"Oh, it's… It's that idea I had ever since I was in the first year of college… About how become distant… and about the environment, and nature… But mainly about people, how they all become distant, and alone and lost… And how they can come back to reality, and be happy, through being with other people and being a part of nature… It's a little common, but I really do want to make it in my very own way… Or at least try too. But I'm not good at writing… I don't think I should do the writing, it would probably be crappy, and - "

"You know, I could find you someone to write the screenplay for you! That is, if you really really think it's necessary", Yoh interfered, " I don't know If Lyserg told you already, but I told him to tell that I'm still interested in this."

"You are?"

"Yeah! It would be really good, it could be totally your own thing, just as alternative as you. I think it's a great idea!", Yoh grinned.

"Hey, I still don't know much about this… But I'm in, you're my little sister after all! I totally wanna be a part of it! You don't need to start from the small things, you did that in the college", Horohoro said with a dismissive gesture.

Pirika just sat there, watching both her brother and Yoh talking animatedly about her film. _'Heh, what are friends for?'_, she thought. Friends always try to persuade you that your ideas are awesome, and these two were very happy and enthusiastic doing so. Really, though, was her idea worth it? It was kind of her pet project, never choosing it for the assignments in university, always keeping it in the back of her mind, with a deep desire of it becoming her first real film, the alternative, sort of underground thing she always wanted to make, fantasizing about it, making up more details, finding places that were worth shooting, even the right music – however she never wrote the dialogue, afraid of her poor writing ability. Seeing these two in such zest, thinking and rethinking about the whole project made her remember her passion for directing she had put aside in order to get a job that would provide her with enough money to live, she really started to consider the idea. B-but, the money?

She hated it, but she had to admit that "money makes the world go round". Or something. Well, it might not make the world go round, but it is something people need. To buy food, clothes, to transport, to learn. To make films. Where the hell would she find all the money she needed for a full-length film?

"You're still worried about the money, aren't you?"

She looked at Yoh, who had, as always, a kind smile on his face. And, as always, he seemed to …sense people's feelings. Or guess their thoughts. Or just be understanding.

"Because if you are", he said, "I can find a way to help". He pondered for a moment. "No, I'll _definitely_ find the money. Real quickly. I just _know_ who the right person is."

He grinned reassuringly, letting Horohoro and Pirika completely clueless and …a bit scared.

* * *

"Here's your wine, sir."

"Hn."

After the dark-haired man's dismissive gesture, the waiter left with a polite bow. The man took a sip of his drink, looked around impatiently, and then took out his wallet and opened it. His glance fell on a photograph that had been carefully cut and placed inside the appropriate, plastic, transparent case of the wallet. For what seemed like an eternity, he stared at the small photograph of a beautiful young woman, with a look on his eyes that was truly rare to be found on his face. With a quick movement, he closed the wallet and put it back in its place, his expression now frustrated. After a second or two, his eyes had gone back to their usual, strict look.

"Hey, Ren."

The man turned to face the green haired woman that was now seated opposite him.

"Neesan. You're late."

She raised a brow while stretching her hand to catch the menu.

"No, I'm not. You were early…again."

"Hn."

"So, what are you drinking there?", she asked casually while flipping the menu's pages. Seeing she didn't receive an answer, she continued.

"We're having _lunch_, Ren. Yes, we are supposed to talk about business, and frankly, I'm all the way with you about it being important, but" - she looked at him – "at least try to answer me."

"Fine, Jun-nee-san. How was your day?"

"Quite nice, actually, thanks for asking. I had a meeting with Asakura earlier."

"Which one of the two?"

"Asakura Hao, but today he kinda sounded like Yoh. Like a twisted version of Yoh, but I'm pretty sure that whatever he told me today – Yoh talked him into it, I'm sure."

"Uh-huh. And what did he tell you?" Ren said, taking another sip of the wine and putting the menu next to himself.

"Well, he's up for the screenplay. However… he kind of has some conditions about it."

"Go on."

"He talked to me about this young director… She's Japanese, but she has studied in America, too. She's a little…alternative, but very talented. He wants her to be the one to direct the film. The one he's going to screenplay. As a matter of fact, he said that a whole lot of it was her own idea."

Jun paused to give their order to the waiter and drink a bit of water from her crystal glass.

"What do you think about it 'til now?" she asked.

"You say she's young?"

"Yes, she just came back from America. She must be …twenty-four? No, twenty-three I believe."

"Very young. Not well known, I suppose. I don't think we should hire her. Maybe as a helper to the director or something, but she's too young to do it on her own."

"Hao says he won't do it if she's not the one directing." She frowned a bit. "You know, we have already announced that he is writing a screenplay for us. It's really not good to break the deal, he is very popular, and we don't want him working for any other company. Plus… that girl is quite something. After all, Hao is just twenty-five. _You_ are just twenty-five, for crying out loud, and you've been the head of the enterprises since two years ago…"

"Hn."

They both drank a sip of wine, and took a bite of the salad and antipasti in front of then.

"Will you say anything or should I just go on?"

"I'm thinking about it. Indeed, we do need Hao, even though I don't like him."

"Yes… He's not a piece of cake to work with. So, he wants the particular director… And he also wants the film to be low budget and …well, sort of arty? Alternative, allegorical in pars… This, considering the technical parts, translates to a relatively small crew, not many studios, no special effects, not more than…let's say…twelve actors, and no need for explicit editing."

Ren was nodding as his sister recited the film's technical matters, and when she stopped, he swallowed his bite and took another one before talking.

"Very well… So, Hao wants the film to be a low budget production. It's quite different to everything we've done before. What's your opinion, Jun-nee-san?"

"It sound interesting and we could use it to expand our audiences. To be honest, though, I don't know how successful it would be. Films like it are unpredictable."

"Would is have enough profits?"

"Since it's a low budget film, definitely enough not to have any loss, and it would bring back at least twice of what we will invest, if we do. Though, with the right promotion, we can manage a lot. Also, this time the critics will be more positive, and this could bring to the theatres older and more …well, serious people. The ones that wouldn't watch our mainstream films. Plus, as both the writer and the director-to-be are young, the film would be meaningful but not too profound."

"In short?"

"I say we go for it."

"Very well." He paused. "As long as we don't spend more money promoting than actually making it."

"I still say yes."

"Then I'll think about it. Water?"

* * *

A/N : Liked it? Hated it? Whatever you thought, please leave a review! It's my first multichapter story, my first SK story and generally I'm excited **runs around crazily**

Constructive criticism and any suggestion you might want to make are welcome! :D

PS.: I'm kinda worried I'll turn Pirika into a Mary Sue if I'm not careful. It's too early to say, but since she's not very developed in the manga there's still that risk. If you notice something, tell me. Or if you notice anything in terms of the characters, I'm not always able to see what may be wrong.

PPS.: I promise to update next week. :)


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